Can Acupuncture and Counseling Help People With Depression?

For people with depression, acupuncture could be the missing piece in a complete management plan.

According to a recent study, adding acupuncture or counseling to usual care for depression could help to decrease symptoms of the condition in the short- to medium-term.

Researchers found that people who were assigned to the acupuncture and counseling groups had lower average depression scores three months later, compared with those who just received the usual care.

Researchers did note that nine months to a year after the interventions, depression scores improved so much in the usual care group that they were about the same as the acupuncture and counseling groups.